::Hello, I'm a teenage uncle-on-a-bicycle-in-training
Anyone who has been following my blog (anyone? anyone?) will have noticed that I ride bikes alot (okay, alot for the standards of an inactive lazy person who spends most of the time sleeping). Why? Why would anyone even have a remote interest in such simple metal machines with wheels that can be outrun by even a bus? Okay, I can understand those mountain bikers and stuff, maybe bicycles are more versatile on mountains and stuff, but does SATan look like a mountain biker? Hell no.
(Yeah, damn right I'm not a mountain biker. If I'm going to get anywhere with my bicycle it means that I'll have to ride it there and riding a bicycle to the nearest mountain is damned well impossible (Malaysia, anyone?). Mountain biking is a yuppie sport. Mountain bikers are yuppies. That's why you keep seeing these SUV's go past with MTBs bouncing around on their backs. These guys have CARS.
Yeah, and the closest thing SATan has to a car is a .....bicycle. She needs a cheap bicycle that she can lock to something and come back and get later, not one of those $1000 monstrosities that feel and look damn good but can't be trusted to remain there for the amount of time one needs to visit a toilet/have lunch/etc. (ie. she needs *and sometimes rides!* something that is so lousy no one wants to steal it lah).)
So why do I ride that damn bicycle so damn much anyway (since I don't go mountain biking and I don't race or whatever)?
Ok, first thing: Bus fares.
After 4 months of charging me student price for bus rides, my ez link card has suddenly decided to go crazy and start charging me FULL ADULT FARE (yeah, I know I was supposed to be paying adult fare during those 4 months, but let's pretend we didn't know that, okay?). Suddenly, just going a few stops on a bus can cost something like almost $1. So what's a poor student to do? Suddenly, my bicycle becomes so much more useful. Gets you anywhere (with the exception of the expressways, Malaysia, etc.), don't need to cram with perverted bus weirdos, no need to pay for parking (just get yourself a good cable lock for less than $10, and a u-lock if you're a belt and suspenders person like me, and you can park anywhere there are fences or poles), and motorcyclists smile at you (probably cause before they got their motorcycle they were also riding bicycles around, so they feel friendly).
Second thing: I like riding bicycles lah.
(Oh and on a bicycle you can also have more fun riding around a void deck or other confined space (can you imagine driving a car around a void deck?) Bladers can do that too, but personally I don't really like bladers, probably cause I still can't figure out what direction they're going, even though I recognise that they may be really nice people otherwise.
Oh, and you can fit >10 bicycles (there are 4 crowded around my door and forcing people to lose weight if they want to leave the house) into your house or even your bedroom. Try bringing one car into your house, now that would be funny. And imagine the amount of mud, dust and remains of smushed cyclists and pedestrians on the floor. Wonderful.)
One thing I realised: Generally, lorry drivers, taxi drivers, bus drivers, most people in normal cars and motorcyclists treat you with respect. The worst people are rich 'tai tai' or career women in big, flashy cars. They think that just because their big cars can squash your little bicycle and they can squash you with their money afterwards should you decide to sue them, they have the right to treat you like shit and drive any way they fucking want. They do this with pedestrians too. Only slightly better are people in SUVs. I don't know, but quite a few of the unpleasant experiences I have had have involved SUVs. I really don't know why.
(Today's Straits Times has an advertisment for some credit card with a rich-looking career woman type posing in front of some flashy car and the caption 'I always follow rules. My own.' Yeah lady. Please add stopping at red traffic lights and obeying traffic rules to your list of 'personal' rules and maybe you'll stop squashing so many hapless pedestrians. Oh wait, you don't care. You want everything to be done your way. Anyway, they're just poor people who can't afford cars and you'll get away with it cause you can hire a better lawyer and anyway you're rushing to your golf game. I can't stand people like you. Scram!!!!)
(Yeah, damn right I'm not a mountain biker. If I'm going to get anywhere with my bicycle it means that I'll have to ride it there and riding a bicycle to the nearest mountain is damned well impossible (Malaysia, anyone?). Mountain biking is a yuppie sport. Mountain bikers are yuppies. That's why you keep seeing these SUV's go past with MTBs bouncing around on their backs. These guys have CARS.
Yeah, and the closest thing SATan has to a car is a .....bicycle. She needs a cheap bicycle that she can lock to something and come back and get later, not one of those $1000 monstrosities that feel and look damn good but can't be trusted to remain there for the amount of time one needs to visit a toilet/have lunch/etc. (ie. she needs *and sometimes rides!* something that is so lousy no one wants to steal it lah).)
So why do I ride that damn bicycle so damn much anyway (since I don't go mountain biking and I don't race or whatever)?
Ok, first thing: Bus fares.
After 4 months of charging me student price for bus rides, my ez link card has suddenly decided to go crazy and start charging me FULL ADULT FARE (yeah, I know I was supposed to be paying adult fare during those 4 months, but let's pretend we didn't know that, okay?). Suddenly, just going a few stops on a bus can cost something like almost $1. So what's a poor student to do? Suddenly, my bicycle becomes so much more useful. Gets you anywhere (with the exception of the expressways, Malaysia, etc.), don't need to cram with perverted bus weirdos, no need to pay for parking (just get yourself a good cable lock for less than $10, and a u-lock if you're a belt and suspenders person like me, and you can park anywhere there are fences or poles), and motorcyclists smile at you (probably cause before they got their motorcycle they were also riding bicycles around, so they feel friendly).
Second thing: I like riding bicycles lah.
(Oh and on a bicycle you can also have more fun riding around a void deck or other confined space (can you imagine driving a car around a void deck?) Bladers can do that too, but personally I don't really like bladers, probably cause I still can't figure out what direction they're going, even though I recognise that they may be really nice people otherwise.
Oh, and you can fit >10 bicycles (there are 4 crowded around my door and forcing people to lose weight if they want to leave the house) into your house or even your bedroom. Try bringing one car into your house, now that would be funny. And imagine the amount of mud, dust and remains of smushed cyclists and pedestrians on the floor. Wonderful.)
One thing I realised: Generally, lorry drivers, taxi drivers, bus drivers, most people in normal cars and motorcyclists treat you with respect. The worst people are rich 'tai tai' or career women in big, flashy cars. They think that just because their big cars can squash your little bicycle and they can squash you with their money afterwards should you decide to sue them, they have the right to treat you like shit and drive any way they fucking want. They do this with pedestrians too. Only slightly better are people in SUVs. I don't know, but quite a few of the unpleasant experiences I have had have involved SUVs. I really don't know why.
(Today's Straits Times has an advertisment for some credit card with a rich-looking career woman type posing in front of some flashy car and the caption 'I always follow rules. My own.' Yeah lady. Please add stopping at red traffic lights and obeying traffic rules to your list of 'personal' rules and maybe you'll stop squashing so many hapless pedestrians. Oh wait, you don't care. You want everything to be done your way. Anyway, they're just poor people who can't afford cars and you'll get away with it cause you can hire a better lawyer and anyway you're rushing to your golf game. I can't stand people like you. Scram!!!!)
